Phoenix, Arizona - This past week, April 12th to April 17th, the Stevens men's club volleyball team traveled to Phoenix, Arizona to compete against some of the best teams in the country at the 2022 National Collegiate Volleyball Foundation tournament.
Stevens was placed in Division 1AA, the second highest division in terms of school size and skill level. They were not flustered or intimidated. They knew going into the tournament that they would have to compete against much larger schools.

The first day, Thursday, was pool play, and helped decide who would make the Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Copper bracket. In Steven's pool was University of South Carolina, Navy, and Louisville. Beginning early at 8am, USC was the first opponent. USC started off strong with solid ball control and offense. The first set was close, with great swings from Tim Luft and digs from Brian Gao, but Stevens lost 25-23. Stevens was working out some kinks because they were missing their starting setter. They tried running a 6-2 formation where two setters are implemented throughout the game and three hitters are available in the front row, but it was difficult to get into a rhythm without practicing it at all during the season. They came out of the second set losing 25-19, feeling down because they believed that they could have won if the circumstances were different.

The next match was against a very strong Navy team. It looked as though all their players worked out 7 days a week. Stevens employed the same gameplan, hoping the 6-2 strategy would work in their favor now that they were more awake. Unfortunately, Navy had great hitters and athletic players who would not let the ball hit the floor. They beat Stevens 25-16 and 25-18.

The third and final pool play game of the day was against Louisville. Stevens went back to a 5-1 with Justin Cheng setting butter and Harry De Haas getting blocks left and right. Channeling their frustration, Stevens won the first set 25-18. Losing some momentum, they lost the second set 25-23. But Jake Burger decided there was no way they would lose three matches in one day, and racked up enough kills to beat Louisville 15-12 in the final set.

Moving onto the second day of the tournament, Stevens competed in 3 matches against good teams to determine which bracket they would advance to on Saturday.Saturday morning, Stevens went up against Southern Methodist University, a good team with solid blocking and middle attacks. After falling behind and losing the first set 23-25, Stevens began to wake up and turn the momentum in their favor. Thanks to great playing from Junior middle blockers Paul Leible and Max Metzner, Stevens was able to turn the match around to defeat Southern Methodist 25-18 and 15-12.
  
Later that morning, Stevens was slated to play against San Jose State University. A team that was 3-1 going into it, San Jose State was a favorite in terms of seeding. Despite good defense from libero Zachary Salisbury and setter Justin Cheng, the attack errors from the Ducks hurt the team's ability to succeed. Stevens lost to San Jose 18-25 and 22-25.

For the last game before the final bracket, Stevens played against Baylor University. A good team with great serving Stevens made sure to be prepared for a great match. In a 2 set victory, Stevens made great use of powerful spikes from Alexei Nikiforov, serving abilities of Tyler Brunquell, and blocking from Harry de Haas to defeat Baylor 25-23 and 25-21.

Because of their success in the two previous days Stevens was scheduled to play in the gold bracket on Saturday. This bracket was a contest between the 16 best teams in the division. An accomplishment on its own, Stevens however was not satisfied. With a drive to be the best team they can be, the ducks moved onto a dynamic and entertaining first match against the University of Rhode Island. Relying on their defense, Stevens somehow managed to keep almost every ball up thanks to the efforts from almost every player. Specifically, the tireless efforts from Zachary Salisbury, Alexei Nikiforov, and Justin Cheng, Stevens was able to stay in the game through the duration of the match. After falling in the first set 22-25, the experience of all the senior members kept the team tenacious through the next two sets, narrowly winning them 27-25 and 15-10.
 
After moving on from the University of Rhode Island, Stevens played against Northeastern University. Unfortunately, Stevens lost in 2 games, 23-35 and 22-25. Northeastern was a strong team that would go on to win the tournament.
    
Ultimately, it was a very successful trip to Arizona. Stevens finished 5th place out of 48 teams in their division. All of the players should be incredibly proud of their performance not only for this tournament but for the past semester altogether.